Augustine of Hippo: Selected Writings
INTRODUCTION
tion has the possibility of experiencing the vitality of Augustinian spirituality. For this purpose ten selections from his voluminous writings are presented in this book. To experience their vitality, however, is to read them prayerfully, opening one's heart to the Interior Master who alone can ensure that their vitality is actualized. Augustine himself said: We can admonish by the sound of our voice; but unless there is One who teaches interiorly, the sound we make is futile... . Let Him therefore speak to you interiorly, in that place where no one can enter, for you can have someone at your side, but no one can enter into your heart. Or rather, let there be no one in your heart—let Christ be in your heart.
Enter then into your heart, and if you have faith, you will find Christ there. There He speaks to you. I, the preacher, must raise my voice, but He instructs you effectively in silence. I speak in sounding words, He speaks within by inspiring a holy fear. It is for Him, then, to sow my words in your hearts. ... Because faith and Christ are in your hearts, He will teach you what i want to communicate to you through the sound of my words.%4
Life and Times
If you were to travel to Souk-Ahras in Algeria on the border of Tunisia you would be in the area where Augustine was born in the town of Thagaste in A.D. 354. There in the fourth century you would have heard Latin, Punic, and perhaps certain dialects spoken.
Augustine's life was spent in North Africa, then in Italy, and finally in Africa again, where he died as bishop of Hippo in A.D. 430. More specifically, he lived out his life successively in Thagaste, Madaura, Carthage, Rome, Milan, Rome, 'Thagaste, and Hippo. Thagaste was an agricultural village but his father, Patricius, was a middle-class Roman town councillor (municeps). A
93. Homilies on St. Jobn's Epistle, 3.13. 94. Augustine, Sermon, 102.2.